For some insane reason, my girlfriend loves turning the TV to Cartoon Network. She doesn’t even watch it. She just has it on in the background. And I’ve noticed that all the cartoons look and sound exactly the same: soulless digital animation (not hand-drawn) with stiff, unnatural body movements of the characters and WAY-overexaggerated voice acting. Tacky thick outlines around the characters. What seems to be a very poor emulation of Japanese-style cartoon art. No clever plots, and the cartoons were apparently designed for kids with ADHD because there’s a stupid gag every three seconds.
Man, I hate these vile “cartoons.” When I was a kid my favorite cartoon was Doug (in which you can actually see the watercolor paint in the lovingly hand-drawn backgrounds)…what ever happened to a style of cartoon animation that is warm and comforting instead of this heartless Cartoon Network crap?
I think he’s talking about the daytime (and Prime Time) kid’s stuff. And he’s still wrong.
Check out Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Kids Next Door, and the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Awesome animation (especially on Foster’s, the character design is amazing!), and some really great writing. Billy and Mandy did a Parody of Dune Messiah. You won’t see that on Doug.
Yerah, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (it used to be called Grim and Evil, but I guess they figured they should Lighten Up) is actually filled with references that sail over the kids’ heads – Mandy quotes Aleister Crowley. They parody Dune and H.P. Lovecraft(“The Prank Call of Cthulhu”). Eris, the goddess of Discord appears multiple times as a character, complete with her “Kallisti” golden apple. I’ll bet the creaters got her from Discordians, rather from Greek myth, but you can never tell. Clearly intended for adults, although it’s scheduled for kids. (MilliCal loves it)Very weird and freaky humor, but the animation’s no great shakes.
Foster’s has very fluid yet simple computer animation. MilliCal loves this, too.
I think those thick black lines came from Dexter’s Lab and the Powerpuff Girls. Both of which started out aimed squarely at the 14 to 25 male crowd. They’ve both since abandoned their base though.
For the art also check out Juniper Lee (although the girl’s kick butt, save world but can’t tell anyone story is all tapped out). Camp Lazlo (from the guy who did Rocko’s Modern Life, shame the show ain’t too good) also has some neat direction.
And the lamented Samurai Jack was awesome too. When are they going to finish the story?! I thought there was a movie in the works.
I came upon that in the middle and I couldn’t believe it. I recorded what was left and luckily got the whole sequnce a few weeks later on Cartoon, Cartoon. They also made another Dune reference (Gom Jabbar) in a show where Mandy entered a beauty or talent contest.
Well if you want beautiful art and animation watch Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes. Tom & Jerry is still being shown on Cartoon Network, don’t think Looney Tunes are.
I liked Billy & Mandy for a while, but got tired of it. The characters are great but the plots got on my nerves.
Foster’s Home for Imiginary Friends is the best and most original cartoon I’ve seen in a while. Suuussspicioussssssss!!
Billy & Mandy has really grown on me. Other fine moments:
A song about eating brains sung to the tune of “Sing, Sing, Sing.”
An extended homage to Ed “Big Daddy” Roth featuring flaming skulls and motorcycles.
TGAOB&M used to be called Grim & Evil because the show used to also include a segment called “Evil con Carne” about a mad genius trying to take over the world. I guess those bits weren’t as popular as the Grim Reaper bits. Charcters from “Evil con Carne” still turn up in the Billy & Mandy universe from time to time.
Oh, and **Doug ** was teh suck. Why watch a normal kid doing normal things when you could be watching the Grim Reaper trying to become a super model?
I actually preferred the “Evil Con Carne” bits to the Grim and Billy and Mandy bits, mostly because my wife would laugh at the dead-on Cuban mannerisms of the disembodied main character, but also because I thought the premise was so wonderfuly out there. While Grim is funny, I stopped watching the show after they took out “Evil”.
Grim used to be combined with a show called Evil Con Carne about a mad scientist who has his brain and stomach in a bear. It wasn’t a bad show but it didn’t get anywhere. General Skar, Billy’s neighbor, is from that program.